Skeena MLA wants smart meters reviewed

SKEENA NDP MLA Robin Austin wants the provincial government to order the BC Utilities Commission to do a full review of BC Hydro’s smart meter program.

“I believe at least a thousand meters have had to be pulled out because they were suspect. So much for them being super smart,” said Austin, who called for the review during a statement made in the provincial legislature yesterday.

“They were suspect — a thousand meters across British Columbia,” Austin said.

In Skeena there have been numerous reports of abnormally high B.C. Hydro bills since the installation of smart meters, Austin continued.

“In my riding of Skeena, here’s what has happened since this smart meter program has gone in. People have contacted my office with claims that their bills have gone up, not by 50 bucks or a hundred bucks, but they’ve gone up by 200 and 300 per cent,” said Austin.

For seniors and other families on fixed incomes, the stress of rate increases has been compounded by even higher bills since the installation of smart meters, he said.

“It is fundamentally wrong to go to a senior who’s on a fixed income or go to somebody who has a family and is trying hard and struggling to pay their own bills and to suddenly say that some erroneous $400 or $500 electricity bill has to be paid while B.C. Hydro looks into it,” said Austin.